Angst is brewing in the Golden State as residents come to grips with the reality of Obamacare. For Danielle Nelson, who was promised on multiple occasions that her oncologists would be covered, is losing her trusted doctors. For Maria Berumen, the “phantom network” is leaving her searching endlessly for a provider that will accept the new exchange policy.
Access to care is not the only problem facing Californians. Karen – a business owner – is trying to cope with the skyrocketing costs.
“In the past two years, we incorporated a small business and obtained group health insurance. The premiums were $1,880 per month when we started, and now they are a whopping $3,000 per month,” she vented. “Nothing has changed…same company, same policy. It is extremely annoying and becoming difficult.”
Still in disbelief over the 60% increase in healthcare costs for her company, Karen shared that they had to scale back their staff.
“We did have to let got of 2 part-time employees, because the cost kept going up and up, so we had to tell them that we could not keep them on anymore,” she stated.
According to a recent study by the National Small Business Association (NSBA), Karen’s business is not alone in feeling the ill effects of the healthcare nightmare.
“The study found the cost of providing health insurance to employees has nearly doubled during the Obama administration. Currently, small businesses pay a monthly average of $1,121 per employee for health insurance premiums, up from $590 in 2009.
According to the study, 91% of small businesses saw their healthcare costs go up during their most recent renewal period….
These price increases have kept many small businesses from growing, the report argues. Two-thirds of the companies said they had less profit to put toward expanding their business, because of an increase in the cost of insurance.
Meanwhile, 34 percent of small businesses reported holding off hiring a new employee and 12 percent laid off an employee because of the rising costs of health insurance.”
For those in California, this may be the least of their troubles as Obamacare could cause the state to dip into the red in the near future.
“Covered California, held up as a jewel in the nation’s up-and-down health care overhaul, is setting aside nearly $200 million to fight off projected budget shortfalls as it prepares for what it says is a challenging financial future without hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid.
Officials brimmed with confidence after the agency tallied 625,000 individual or family health care enrollments through mid-January, the most of any state. They also say its survival is not assured, in part because of the uncertainty around sign-ups that are key to the exchange’s success.
The greatest vulnerabilities include the “long-term sustainability of the organization” after federal grants that have been its sole source of support, more than $1 billion so far, dry up this year, the agency’s executive director, Peter Lee, wrote in December to the California Department of Finance.”
Add to that Medicaid expansion costs, and California could be facing some rough waters ahead. The projected funding gaps will likely give additional attention to expenses like the $1.37 million spent on a web stream promotion featuring Richard Simmons.
With all the failed promises and wasteful spending, Karen doesn’t see a solution to the train wreck legislation. “It needs to be repealed!”
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